I have a complicated set of values

Category Archives: Other

First, I would like to thank you all. When I started this site I expected it to be little more than a cathartic exercise read primarily if not exclusively by friends and family who thought it their duty to humor me. To see so many people read and share my words is an amazing feeling I hope I never get over. Thank you. Truly.

Second, I want to expound a little on my vision for this site. Much of the media and public discussion has turned tribalistic. It’s us vs them, and they better watch out. Lost in these arguments and meme wars are the principles this great country was founded upon. My goal is to keep calm and stick to those principles.

If you are looking for someone to always defend Trump or always criticize Trump, this site may not be for you. This site is not about Trump. This site is about conservative principles. When Trump does something right I will praise him, when he does something wrong I will call him out. It’s as simple as that.

So whether you walk around all day in a MAGA hat, consider yourself part of the resistance, or fall somewhere in between, you will find some posts you agree with and some you disagree with. Whether you think I’m right or wrong, let me know. My only requirement is that you keep it civil.

I don’t do this for fame and fortune. I anonymously run a small website that generates no revenue, and I have no expectation of that ever changing. I come home from work and write articles because I have deeply held convictions I believe can improve this country if adopted. I want people to know them, understand them, be persuaded by them. I couldn’t care less about liberal tears.

So, here is my commitment to you. I will at all times say what I believe and nothing else. I am beholden to no politician, only the conservative principles I cherish.

I invite you to like my Facebook page and follow my Twitter account. I am making an effort to be more active on Twitter, so I recommend following both. If you enjoy a post, please consider sharing it on Facebook or Twitter. There are buttons below each post to quickly share it with your friends.

The right is angry, and with good reason. We spent eight years being condescended to by a former part time Constitutional law lecturer who repeatedly admitted to violating the Constitution. He had “a pen and a phone,” so forget Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. Meanwhile, the media acted as if Obama should get everything he wanted, but if Republicans in a co-equal branch of government had a different idea it was “obstruction.” And anytime we dared to criticize Obama, even simply saying he golfed too much, it was proof we were racists.

We spent eight long years raging in vain that 2% economic growth is a failure, that treaties have to be ratified by the Senate not just willed into existence by the president, or that Obama learning of his administration’s failure after failure from the news was not an excuse. For this we were insulted, mocked, and condescended to. It was infuriating.

While this was particularly acute during the Obama years, the media has always been liberal, it’s nothing new to be called racist for every disagreement, and Democrats have always been hypocrites. So with that history, it’s natural to seek a measure of revenge.

Many on the right take perverse pleasure in watching the left get upset. When someone who is undeservedly arrogant breaks down in confusion because something doesn’t go their way, it’s natural to smile a bit. Going back to at least the 90’s, there have been jokes about drinking liberal tears.

Last week, Senate Democrats filibustered a Bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks gestation. The 20 week ban would have brought America more in line with the rest of the world’s abortion policy, is supported by science that shows a 20 week old fetus feels pain, and is supported by two-thirds of Americans, including a majority of Democrats. Guess which side was called “extreme.”

Abortion is a peculiar institution. Despite, or perhaps because of, a Supreme Court ruling that discovered an ill-defined Constitutional right to abortion, it has been possibly the most heated subject of political debates in America for nearly half a century. It was a struggle just to outlaw abortions that occur during child birth. Kermit Gosnell ran an abortion house of horrors, complete with dead fetuses in jars, infanticide occurring after birth, and a dead mother to boot. And yet this received scant attention from the national media.

There is an entire industry dedicated to hiding and obfuscating the truth when it comes to abortion. Enough. Abortion shares many similarities with America’s great sin of the past, and its time to discuss them.

When someone on the left wants to denigrate someone on the right in the most extreme way, they call us a Nazi or fascist (I 100% reject the notion that Nazism or fascism is of the right, but that is for another time). When someone on the right wants to denigrate the left in the most extreme way, we call them a communist. The difference here is that while leading figures of the Republican Party, or the right broadly speaking, roundly reject and condemn fascism, many on the left still find communism acceptable.

There is a fringe that has attached itself to the right, known as the alt-right, that preaches white nationalism, but that small group of basement dwellers has been routinely and vocally repudiated by leading figures of the actual right. The same cannot be said for the left. Examples abound.

When the Gauls fought Caesar, when William Wallace fought the English, when various anti-colonial movements fought the British, French, and other European empires, they all claimed to fight for freedom. But they weren’t fighting for freedom – not really. Their wars were designed to replace a dictator from a foreign land with a dictator who shared their ethnicity.

Southern slaveholders argued for their freedom to hold other human beings in bondage. When President George W. Bush made the case for the Iraq War, he claimed that everyone all around the world wants liberty. As we found out, most just want to be the ones in power.

Let’s start this off with a simple fact: America is the greatest country that ever was or will be. Qarth can suck it.

America is, without question, the richest, most powerful, most influential country the world has ever known. But more than that, modern society would be impossible without the United States. I am currently writing this post on my phone, which would not have been possible without America. An American did not just invent the specific iPhone I am using, but the genre of cell phones itself. Nor is the cell phone the only American invention that has transformed our daily lives. Far from it.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. The holiday that grew out of a Civil War veterans organization’s commitment to honor their fallen comrades. Initially called “Decoration Day,” Union veterans picked May 30 to place flowers on the graves of soldiers in a somber ceremony. This continued for over a century until Congress declared Memorial Day an official holiday to take place on the last Monday of May.

Like many holidays, Memorial Day has lost some of its meaning to the general public. It is widely regarded as the unofficial start to summer, with greetings such as “happy Memorial Day” that are a bit incongruous with the solemnity of the occasion. This, in turn, has led to some dedicated people (often veterans) who scold those who forget the seriousness of the day.

I propose a middle ground. Enjoy your day off. Have friends over for a BBQ. Spend some time outside in the nice weather and look forward to the summer. But at some point during your long weekend, take a moment to remember the 33 Americans who, since the last Memorial Day, have sacrificed their lives for our way of life.